March 28, 2014 10.04 am This story is over 119 months old

Work kicks off on new £550k Lincoln school football pitch

New 3G pitch: Work to create a new football pitch at a Lincoln Academy has begun after the facility received a £250k grant.

Work to create a new third generation (3G) football pitch at the Priory City of Lincoln Academy has started after the facility received a £250,000 grant.

The funding was then matched and topped up by The Priory Federation of Academics Trust, bringing the total funding to £550,000.

The academy worked in partnership with Lincolnshire FA to secure the grant from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund.

It is expected that the new pitch, which is being built by Charles Lawrence Surfaces Ltd of Newark, will be completed and ready for use by summer 2014.

To mark the start of the work, guests of honour were invited to a special event at the academy on Skellingtorpe Road.

Lincoln City FC manager Gary Simpson and assistant manager Grant Brown attended, together with Imps striker Conner Robinson – a former pupil of the Academy.

The artificial grass pitch will be suitable for use in all-weather conditions and marked out for both eleven-a-side and five-a-side football matches.

The facility will support pupils at the academy and will also be available to hire for players and teams across the city during evenings, weekends and school holidays.

The Priory Trust agreed to contribute the remainder of the funding from its central reserves in order to support sporting participation by young people in its academies and the wider community.

Mrs Jane Hopkinson, Headteacher at the Academy, said: “We are extremely grateful to the Trust and to the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund for making this development possible.

“It is fantastic to see such progress being made and we can’t wait for the pitch to be open and in use – it will dramatically improve access to grassroots sport for our students and for thousands of people in the city.”